Save our Centre for Studies in Social Justice!

The University of Windsor administration has determined that it will close its Centre for Studies in Social Justice this July 1st, 2013. This decision must be reversed as the Centre is a unique, vital and vibrant hub for social justice research, knowledge dissemination, exchange, and advocacy in Canada.

Through its commitment to social justice the Centre actively develops public forums on timely themes such as the environment, citizenship and democracy, security and exclusion, human rights, globalization, social movements, and the state of democracy. The Centre bridges the worlds of academia and activism; promotes education, action and advocacy; and enriches our communities through public engagement. In short, the Centre is committed to actualizing the University’s responsibility as a public institution.

Given the University of Windsor’s mission statement: ‘enabling people to make a better world through education, scholarship, research and engagement’ (2010: 8), it is perplexing that the administration has deemed the Centre for Studies in Social Justice to be of no value.

In fact, the University of Windsor’s 2010 strategic plan, Thinking Forward…Taking Action, observes, that ‘universities must contribute to the betterment of society’ (8). The same document also claims that the University of Windsor ‘is a place with a commitment to social justice’. How does the decision to close the Centre for Studies in Social Justice align with these objectives? It doesn’t.